Only a moment earlier, Ironvale City had been alive with its usual restless energy.
Built along the edge of the vast ocean, where the salty breath of the sea drifted through every street and settled on every rooftop, Ironvale was one of the busiest ports in Celestra.
Merchants from the northern empires filled their roads with wagons, sailors shouted from the docks, fishermen unloaded their daily catches, and adventurers dragged enormous beast corpses from their ships to the market as if they were hunters returning from some distant jungle.
The ordinary merchants, lacking ether energy and unable to use storage rings, transported their goods in creaking boats and broad-bellied cargo ships.
Adventurers did the same, for even a storage ring had limits, and some beast carcasses were simply too massive to fit inside a magical container.
As one of the three great ports of Celestra, Ironvale never truly slept.
